Vegetables are a great way to "fill the gaps" when trying to improve your lifestyle.
Adding lots of vegetables to each meal not only increases your nutrient value for those meals, but keeps you away from eating the items you want to avoid when trying to lose weight.
So... yeah, this all sounds so easy. But who wants to, or has time to, wash and cut up veggies multiple times a day?
No one, that's who!
So how can you make this happen in real life?
Every 3 or 4 days make a full tray of assorted veggies to oven roast. Cut, wash and drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top of your veggies of choice. Season with your favourite seasoning. You can change the variety of veggies each time you do a new tray, as well as change which seasonings you use. Your veggies never have to be the same twice. Bake @ 350F for about 20-25 minutes.
Presto!
You now have roasted veggies to add on top of meals (or as a side dish) for the next 3 to 4 days. I enjoy adding these roasted veggies to my salads too. (It's a salad game-changer!)
Some of my favourite combinations for a full tray of veggies are:
Brussels sprouts, carrots, asparagus and small pieces of sweet potato
Kale, broccoli & cherry tomatoes
Mushrooms, onions and red bell peppers
Zucchini, red, yellow and orange bell peppers
Cauliflower, broccoli and carrots
Broccoli, purple cabbage and yellow bell peppers
Kale, asparagus, red & yellow bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli {photo}
Use cauliflower in place of rice. If you don't like the mess of cutting cauliflower, it can be found in groceries stores already pre-grated. Add a little coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil to coat the pan, season the cauliflower-rice and sauté until cooked through. Cauliflower rice also tastes great mashed (just like mashed potatoes!) It goes well on top of Sheppard's pie or as it's own side dish as cauliflower-mash.
It's okay to drink some of your veggies. Of course chewing your veggies is the most nutritious and easily digestible way of consuming vegetables, but drinking vegetables is better than not getting enough or even worse, any at all.
You may be amazed at how easy and quick it is to throw together, and surprised by how good it tastes.
Using a blender add all ingredients together and out the door you go. (I use a Magic Bullet)
Here are a few of my favourite combinations:
Smoothie 1
2-3 cups of washed spinach or kale
1 scoop of greens powder (there are many great kinds on the market)
1/2 banana
1 TBSP Flax seed
1.5 cups of unsweetened almond or cashew milk
Smoothie 2
2 cups of washed spinach
1/2 english cucumber
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup water
1 TBSP almond or cashew butter
1 green apple, peeled & chopped or 1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce
1-3 TBSP of hemp hearts
Smoothie 3
2 cups of washed spinach
1/2 english cucumber
1 lemon, juiced
1 green apple, peeled
1 cup of water + 1 handful of ice
1/2" cube of fresh ginger, peeled
1 stick of celery, chopped